Against

A familiar name, the same old colour scheme and a layout that leaves you with a sense of deja vu. But don't go thinking you've seen it all before with the Asus Republic of Gamers (RoG) Maximus V Gene.

This time around Asus's pint-sized MicroATX RoG Maximus powerhouse gets Intel's all new Z77 chipset just in time for the imminent launch of the 3rd Generation revision of the Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 processors.

Those Ivy Bridge chips aren't quite out yet.

In the meantime, we can get a feel for how the Asus Maximus V Gene and its Z77 chipset handles with an existing Intel Core i7 processor thanks to the fact that Intel has, for once, decided to carry over the LGA1155 socket, ensuring backwards compatibility with Sandy Bridge-era Intel CPUs.

More to the point, we can also line the Maximus V Gene up against its shiny new Z77-based competition in the shape of the MSI Z77A-GD65 and sibling rival Asus Sabertooth Z77.

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